Thieves steal military coins from war hero's grave

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GARDINER, Wash. -- The widow of a local war hero was saddened to learn somebody stole three special military coins that visitors left as a tribute to the husband she lost during the Vietnam War.

The brass "challenge coins" were placed on the tombstone of Navy Seabee Marvin G. Shields, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously in 1966. He is buried at a small cemetery in the Jefferson County community of Gardiner.

"Disappointed more than angry," said Joan Shields Bennett. "Disappointed that someone would deface someone else's thoughts and caring about him."

Joan discovered the coins missing last week. She did not report the theft to police, but hopes whoever is responsible returns them to the cemetery, no questions asked. She says they had been there undisturbed for the past two or three years.

"For me to come up here in the next few days and see those coins still there, that someone had returned them, wouldn't that be marvelous," she said.

The missing coins are imprinted with the face of Marvin. One of them was left by an admiral who now commands forces that include the legendary Seabees. That was especially meaningful to Shields' family.

Marvin G. Shields died in June of 1965 in Dong Zoai, South Vietnam, while he and fellow Seabees were building a compound for Army Special Forces. Viet Cong soldiers spotted the operation and started firing with machine guns.

Wounded by artillery fire, Shields is credited with rescuing a more seriously wounded man, then volunteering to help take out an enemy machine gun nest. He was shot again once he returned and died on the battlefield.

Joan said one account of the battle noted Marvin worked to keep morale high during the ordeal despite his own life-threatening wounds.

"He sat there and still encouraged his teammates and made jokes to keep them encouraged," Joan said. "To me that said, that is Marvin. That is Marvin. It never has surprised me he did what he did. Never. That's just the kind of person he was."

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